Sahyadri Hospitals conduct successful liver transplant amidst lockdown

Pune 15 May 2020 : Sahyadri Super Specialty Hospital Nagar Road conducted successful liver transplant on a 62 year old female with co morbidities . The liver was donated by a 47 year brain dead patient who gave a new lease of life to the women. This is the first cadaver transplant in Maharashtra since lockdown and was possible as the family came forward for donation.

Dr Bipin Vibhute Head of Liver and Multi-organ Transplant department at Sahyadri Hospitals said that the 62 year old women was suffering from diabetes, hypertension and liver cirrhosis , had symptoms of arthritis , jaundice and was unfortunately suffering from portal vein thrombosis which was getting worse day by day . The patient was tested for Covid-19 and it turned negative. Then we started the process of transplantation where the standard procedures to avoid Covid -19 infection were followed with extra precautions and minimum staff .

He added that in the times of pandemic this presented a certain risk and we had to access risk vs the benefit . In this case benefit was more and therefore we accepted the organ for transplant .

Dr Dinesh Zirpe Liver Transplant Surgeon, Sahyadri Hospitals said that the women was on the waiting list and got the liver on time. There is a risk for any procedure during the pandemic and was told to the relatives who accepted to go ahead with the procedures. We had to look out for a recipient from the waiting list who was not from the red zone areas to minimize risk. The patient is now stable .

The team of doctors included Dr. Bipin Vibhute, Head of Liver and Multi-organ Transplant department at Sahyadri Hospitals; Dr. Sheetal Mahajani, Director – Hepatology, Transplant Hepatology, Gastroenterology and GI Endoscopy Department; Dr. Shailesh Sable – Liver Transplant Surgeon, Dr Manish Pathak -Transplant Anaesthetist, Dr. Dinesh Zirpe – Liver Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Aniruddha Bhosale – Liver Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Manoj Raut – Transplant Anaesthetist, Dr. Abhijit Mane – Associate Clinician , Sandeep Kulkarni Gastroenterologist and Ajay Chavan surgeon and transplant coordinators, Arun Ashokan and Aman Bele